US pastor Kevin Fray makes $806k mistake after huge Lotto win: ‘I was shaking’

A huge Lotto win saw one US man make the biggest mistake of all - misplacing his ticket. Photo / Getty Images

A life changing Lotto win saw one US man make the biggest mistake of all — misplacing his ticket.

The New York Post has reported 64-year-old Kevin Frey had just played a cash scratchy at a general store in his New Hampshire hometown when he learned he had won one of the top prizes.

Wrapped up in the excitement of realising he had the winning ticket and feeling slightly flustered, he made the terrible mistake of accidentally leaving it on the store counter as he walked out to the car to call his family.

Speaking to Iowa Lottery, Frey, who has been a pastor at a New Hampshire church for many years, recalled the moments after his win explaining, “I was so excited and flustered that I left the ticket inside of the Casey’s store and went out to the car and started calling everybody, calling my wife at first and everybody else.”

A $500,000 win left Kevin Frey of #NewHampton so flustered, he accidentally left his lucky ticket behind! Hear more about Kevin's story on our blog: https://t.co/8ls1e2WR2W pic.twitter.com/bOWTkA6tSr

— Iowa Lottery (@ialottery) February 20, 2024

While talking to his children, Frey said one of them asked him to send a photo of the winning scratchy however when he went to grab it, he realised he had misplaced it.

Recalling his steps since realising he had won US$500,000 (NZ$806,927) there was only one place it could be, inside the store.

“I was shaking pretty good then, I think,” he told The Sun, adding, “Fortunately, I was still in the parking lot of the Casey’s store, and I ran back inside and asked the employee for the ticket.

“She was so flustered that she forgot to give it to me the first time.”

After claiming his prize, Frey told US news outlet Newsflash he has big plans on what he will do with the money, revealing it will help him and his wife Marian move to another town to be closer to their children.

But that’s not all, as well as sharing some of the money with their loved ones, they are also set to make generous donations to charities they have supported for years.

“This is going to help a lot,” he told the outlet.

Following the win, Frey has continued on with his day-to-day life, even attending church on Sunday to give his weekly sermon.

“They told me I did a nice job on the sermon, so I said: ‘Well, I guess there was something at work in the middle of all that’.”